“You cannot remove struggle from life, but you can improve your ability to handle challenges.”
ONE OF THE SUPERPOWERS OF LIVING BEINGS IS TO CHANGE AND ADAPT TO ALL KINDS OF STRESSORS IN THEIR LIFE, FROM PHYSICAL TO PSYCHOLOGICAL TO ENVIRONMENTAL.
This blog discusses the capacity of the human body to change its structure in response to a stressor (load) and what happens when our bodies aren’t adequately stressed, explaining how underloading our bodies can be detrimental.
Wolff’s law, developed by the German anatomist and surgeon Julius Wolff in the 19th century, states that bone in a healthy animal will adapt to the loads under which it is placed.
If loading on a particular bone increases, it will remodel itself over time to become stronger to resist that sort of loading. There as well might be some truth in the saying,“ what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
Moreover, all connective tissue in our body adapts to increased load (applied gradually and progressively) through changes in not only structure but also material properties.
The function and physiology of connective tissue in our body can be determined by the load/stress/force placed on it! If we take a new cell, on the application of tensile load, the cell turns into a tendon/ligament and compressive force turns it into cartilage/ bone.
Therefore, it is safe to say that the structures in our body are designed to respond to load and hence thrive under specific types of load, sometimes when we exert load (demand) too quickly or way beyond the structure’s current capacity, it can lead to pain, discomfort and even conditions like tendinopathy.
How would exposing ourselves to things that seem uncomfortable in hindsight be beneficial?
Life is unpredictable, and exposing ourselves to various stressors empowers us to deal with them better, or the least equips us with the capacity to recover faster in the face of adversity.
For example, Two people A and B have 55 health scores initially.
Person A exercises regularly and exposes his body to stressors (eg: resistance training), making him healthier and stronger. It equips him with the ability to recover faster. So his health score can be increased to 70. Whereas, person B follows a low-stressor lifestyle so he’ll have an above-average health score of 55. In case of a condition/disease/injury, the health score for any patient tends to drop by 30 points.
Concurrently, when A and B are injured, their health scores become 40 and 25 respectively. To recover and reach an average health score of 50, A will find it easier as compared to B since it is easier to reach 50 from 40 as compared to 25.
The formation of calluses around the unsupportive part of the shoe or on the palm due to repeated pressure of activities such as playing instruments and using hand tools, improved bone density in response to increased load/stress on the bone, and increase in muscle size
as a result of resistance training, are all beneficial adaptation responses that our body adapts to in response to a stressor in order to deal with it better which is explained by the SAID principle which stands for specific adaptations to imposed demands, asserts that the human body adapts specifically to imposed demands.
Almost everyone feels a difference in the strength of their dominant (usually, right) and non-dominant (usually, left) arm, especially when trying to lift something heavy, that explains the SAID principle, where we spend more time using one limb more than the other throughout our lives, as a consequence it develops better strength, control, and dexterity over the other.
So were most people destined to write from their right hand? Of course not, it happened so as a result of regular practice over the years, and remember no one starts writing in calligraphy from day one! Some people regularly practice writing and drawing with their feet, and they master it too. Practice makes perfect! How? The SAID principle!
No wonder the forearm bones in the dominant arm of professional tennis players have been shown to increase in size and density, whereas, elite weight-lifters have been shown to have very dense vertebrae. People who exercise regularly have a higher general bone mass than those who do not.
Exercise can replicate and enhance life, for example, strength training for mothers-to-be or new mothers, allowing them to prepare and replicate the demands that require them to carry and take care of their baby, here the weight lifted during exercise can provide them with the strength and confidence to hold their baby without excessive discomfort, exercise like farmers hold that would help a person reproduce a common task of carrying grocery bag to and fro, adding to their independence in activities of daily living.
What happens when we take away the load from our joints?
Our bodies are under constant physical stress because of gravity. However, the elimination
of gravity can negatively affect the body, as seen in astronauts.
A significant effect of long-term weightlessness as seen in astronauts is loss of muscle and bone mass.
The absence of load from the body eliminates the function our tissues are designed for and If you don’t use it, you lose it.
Immobilization or non-weight bearing tends to produce similar results. Sarcopenia is an age-dependent geriatric syndrome characterized by skeletal muscle mass loss, muscle strength, and/or declines in physical performance.
A meta-analysis in 2020 indicated that the prevalence of sarcopenia was 9–10% in community-dwelling individuals, 30–50% in nursing-home individuals, and 23–24% in hospitalized individuals. Sarcopenia is associated with several adverse outcomes, including falls and secondary fractures, pulmonary insufficiency, sleep disorders, cognitive impairment, poor quality of health-life, and premature mortality, all of which bring significant medical and economic burdens. It also increases the risk of hospitalization in older people
Furthermore, muscle mass decreases by 1.5%-2% per day during bed rest (a piece of advice that is still famous among healthcare practitioners). After twelve weeks of lying on your back, bone mass is halved. Between the ages of 40 and 50 years, we can lose 8% of our muscle mass; this loss accelerates to 15% per decade after age 75 years. Loss of muscle mass is often accompanied by loss of strength and functional decline.
Comparing cross-country runners with controls shows that there is increased bone density at all sites – including those of the arms! Moreover, running has the advantage of promoting nutrition by penetrating into the cartilage as well as squeezing out metabolic substances, such as water, maintaining overall cartilage health.
Smith and colleagues in 1981, rather nicely demonstrated that exercise could actually increase bone mineral content, even in elderly women whose bone mineral content is expected to fall over time.
These researchers took thirty elderly folk with a mean age of 84 and measured their bone mineral contents. They divided the women into two groups that were matched on the basis of age, weight, and degree of ambulation. The ‘experimental’ group participated in a thirty-minute exercise program three days a week for three years. The bone mineral content was then re-measured and compared to the non-exercise group. They found that the exercise group achieved a modest 2.3% gain in mineral content whereas the non-exercisers lost 3.3% content.
Another result along these lines was published by Ayalon et al in 1987. These researchers looked at the effects of ‘dynamic forearm loading’ exercises on post-menopausal women (age range 53-74 years) and compared them to controls. After five months the control group’s forearm bone density had diminished whereas the exercisers recorded a 3.8% increase. The exercises consisted of three, fifty-minute sessions per week.
Not only bone, but exercise also impacts other mechanical tissues like ligaments and tendons. Healing in tendons and ligaments occurs by scar formation (not by regeneration) and it is ultimately not likely to be very strong considering that these structures are both collagenous, poorly vascularised, and have a very slow biological turnover and metabolism.
The scar formed at the second stage of healing, preceding the stage of remodeling, mainly consists of type III collagen fibers which need physiological loading to orient themselves correctly along the line of stress and convert to the stronger type I collagen.
Additionally, loading even alters the rate of repair, three weeks following injury, surgically repaired tendons treated with early mobilization had twice the strength of repaired treated with immobilization.
It is safe to say, exercise does it better than a massage gun, for negligible cost, and don't forget about the special offer that gives you innumerable free benefits!
In conclusion:
Disuse is catabolic. Adaptability is a superpower.
Adaptability is a superpower. Our bodies adapt despite pathology, age, or gender.
Exercise has multifold benefits that extend beyond mechanical changes and the benefits of exercise, almost, in the majority of cases outweigh the cons.
Exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous or extensive to be beneficial.
Start with whatever you can, however you can, every minute makes a difference. Don’t worry about slow progress or starting too late, everybody has to start somewhere.
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Cover Photo by Michael Scott from Pexels
Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only.
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